


i’ll stay by your side in the afterglow

by muffincollection



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: :(, Break Up, Fake Relationship, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Johnny Seo is an Angel, Las Vegas Babey, M/M, Marriage, Taeyong Legend, Taeyong’s (Ex)Boyfriend is an Asshole, Verbal Humiliation, call out that fucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21747676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muffincollection/pseuds/muffincollection
Summary: There’s a large hand on his shoulder and Taeyong almost jumped out of his skin, but it happens to be Johnny, the friendly giant from earlier.Taeyong blinks and little before locking eyes with Johnny.“Marry me,” Taeyong demands, “Don’t ask questions, just do it.”
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Original Male Character(s), Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 9
Kudos: 199





	i’ll stay by your side in the afterglow

**Author's Note:**

> tw / violence tagged because taeyong's boyfriend is rough with him and there’s a scene where he slaps him as well. please be cautious of the tags!
> 
> note: this fic doesn’t reflect of them in real life, and i characterized them in a way that i see it. nothing that happens in this fic is something that happened in real life. this is a work of fiction.
> 
> enjoy :)

“Baby, are you ready?” Jinho smiles sweetly, the cigarette in his mouth hanging out. Taeyong nodded once and headed for the car, but Jinho grabbed him, “You use words when talking to me.”

Taeyong took in a deep breath, “Yes Jinho, I’m ready.”

“Good boy,” Jinho interlocked their fingers and dragged the two of them to the car. Like the  _ gentleman  _ Jinho was he opened the door for Taeyong and kisses his hand, “You know I love you right?”

Taeyong smiles, “I love you too.”

The ride is long and Taeyong thinks he’d fall asleep if it wasn’t for Jinho’s hand squeezing his thigh the whole ride to the Casino. 

It’s never comforting anymore, his touches now are more of a threat than they are welcoming. 

When they arrive at the Casino, Jinho helps Taeyong out of the car and immediately wraps an arm around his waist. He sees a group of men standing by the front, and they all smirk when they see Jinho— so he immediately assumes they’re his business partners. 

On entry, they’re met with a lot of people staring and ogling. Taeyong would throw up if he could. A skinny woman with pin straight hair and a dress tighter than Taeyong could even imagine approaches them. 

“Wow, you’re very beautiful,” She compliments, “It’s lovely that a man as fine as him allows you to cut your hair short and wear suits.”

“I’m a man,” Taeyong corrects. The lady gasps. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, you’re still beautiful!” She apologizes, and before Taeyong can speak, Jinho cuts in. 

“It’s okay, he screams like a girl anyways,” Jinho winks. Taeyong immediately flushes of color and looks down. 

His friends laugh, and the lady clears her throat and rushes away. 

He’s embarrassed. Jinho can never keep his mouth shut.

They enter the larger part of the Casino, and an old man greets the group before leading them to a private room. It wasn’t like you got this every day, but Jinho apparently spent a lot of money along with the guys. 

Taeyong hates this place. His boyfriend of five years, who’s super rich and loves to travel and wear him like an accessory, is laughing his ass off and gambling next to him. He hates this place. 

As he watches his boyfriend gamble, he makes note of the way he plays his cards and how often he looks to his lap. It was as if he was cheating. 

He resists the urge to roll his eyes, but straightens his back and smirks at the other players knowing that they don’t stand a chance against his boyfriend. Taeyong plays with the ring on his finger, his boyfriend proposed to him a few months ago and Taeyong unwillingly said yes. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his boyfriend, it was that it wasn’t even a real relationship. 

Jinho would wrap an arm around him and treat him as a prized possession rather than a human. It pissed him off. Sometimes when they were in public, Jinho would get handsy or grab him in places that should be saved for the bedroom. His friends too, they’d grab him and try to get with him all under Jinho’s little quests. 

In fact, Taeyong is cut off in his thoughts when he feels a hand grip the inside of his thigh way too close to his crotch. It’s large and warm, and— definitely not Jinho’s. 

“What the fuck?” Taeyong abruptly pushes his chair back and stands up. 

“The little bitch was teasing me!” The man lied, smirking when he saw the shock on the small boys face. 

“I was not!”

Jinho shoots him a look and squints. He grabs Taeyong’s bicep and yanked him down close. “Sit the fuck down,” Jinho seethes into his ear, his grip tightens making the small boy wince. When Taeyong shows no shine of obliging, he quirked an eyebrow, “Would you rather me just fuck you as a punishment in front of all of my friends? Maybe they get a turn as well?” He says it loud enough so the guys gathered around the table whistle. 

In embarrassment, Taeyong slumps into his seat and wraps his arms around himself. 

There’s the other thing, he’s merciless and a total and complete  _ asshole.  _ Who forces him into submission and constantly degrades him into nothing but dirt. His disgusting hands grabbing him alone is enough to make Taeyong fear him at points. 

This had to end. Now all the men were staring at him with lust in their eyes, the guy next to him looked satisfied enough that he replaced his hand on Taeyong’s thigh. 

It was getting annoying. He hates every single one of these guys and their superiority complex. He doesn’t even know their names, ages, nothing. Jinho is four years older than him, taller than him, stronger than him—everything. These guys definitely are just as fucked up as Jinho. 

The man who had his hand on his thigh looks suggestively at him and winked, making Taeyong cringe and feel his anger boil. He saw Jinho laughing with two other guys. Jinho really didn’t care for him. Taeyong stood up abruptly, knocking the chair down from the force. 

He was about to storm away, but Jinho yanked him roughly by the arm and caused him to slam into his chest.

“Who do you think you are?” Jinho said, his voice wasn’t raised but by the tone, Taeyong knew he was pissed. He stayed quiet, “Fucking bitch, answer me.”

Taeyong frown, took his foot and stomped on Jinho’s, “My name is Taeyong.” Taeyong spat into his face, ripping his arm from the older’s. 

He stormed out of their private room and out into the crowd that was the casino. When you had money, you were able to get shit. Jinho unfortunately followed him and almost broke his wrist pulling him back.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Taeyong spat, shoving himself away from the taller male. Jinho looked shocked to see Taeyong yell so loud. 

“Taeyong, baby, let’s talk about this,” Jinho began, “You’re overreacting!”

“Your friends harassing me, you grabbing me and abusing me, you degrading me into nothing is fucking overreacting?” Taeyong spat, “Was it overreacting when you threatened to let all your friends fuck me because I did something you didn’t like?” 

“Let’s do this somewhere else—“ Jinho tried, “People are staring…”

“People deserve to know how shitty you are!” Taeyong took one step back and gazed around. Jinho steppes forwards, as if he forgot they were in public and backhanded him across the cheek. When Taeyong stumbles, he didn’t do anything but stand back up straight. 

He looked at his ring. 

“And this engagement?” Taeyong laughs, “It’s over.”

In pure exhilaration, Taeyong took off the ring and threw it to the ground, “We’re  _ done. _ ” He stomps on the ring, and it satisfied when he sees the diamonds fall off. 

“That was expensive!” Jinho says, but Taeyong storms away from the scene, distinctly hearing Jinho yell something about using him for his body, and manages to not break character until he’s outside the place. 

Even if it felt amazing to do, he bursts into tears. 

How could he have been so stupid to of stayed with a man like him so long? All the tearful nights staying up cleaning his bruises and cuts, the nights his boyfriend would drag him to parties and get him drunk, the day’s where he’d be locked in the room for hours— all hit him at once. Everything he’s tried to ignore became too clear. He lost friends, family, everything because he thought it was love. 

It wasn’t love, it never was. He was being used. He felt pathetic. 

Taeyong roughly wipes at his tears and finds his way to a bathroom, immediately closing the door and splashing water on his face. He couldn’t seem to calm himself down. 

He also realized that he didn’t really have a place to go after this. His boyfriend was the only one that kept him afloat, after all he lost most of his friends because of him. Taeyong would feel too bad contacting one of them after years of ignoring them. He steps back and processes his situation, he had enough money to stay at a hotel for a few days and not break a sweat, but after that he had no where. 

The restroom door swings open and a tall, friendly looking man walks in quietly. He was very attractive. The man didn’t do anything but wash his hands and mumble some tune to a song he didn’t recognize. 

Taeyong didn’t even realize he was staring so long until the man tilted his head at him. 

“Can I help you?” The man questioned, and Taeyong quickly shook his head. 

“No, sorry! I didn’t realize I was staring,” Taeyong replies with a crack in his voice. The man purses his lips and leans down to eye level. 

“Are you crying?” He says in a softer tone, “Did you lose a lot of money?”

“What? No—“ Taeyong laughed softly, “I just broke off my engagement with my fiancé. He’s an asshole.”

Taeyong shakes his head, “I hope you’re not homophobic or anything that would be bad.”

“Ah?” The man gasps, “Why would you assume that of me? I’m gay myself.”

“Oh-“ Taeyong scratches his head, “Um, same?” 

“My name's Johnny, it was nice meeting you but I gotta go,” Johnny says kindly, “And your name?”

“Taeyong,” The smaller replies. Johnny nods and waves goodbye to him goodbye, and then he’s alone in the bathroom. Sulking in his own self-pity.

When he finally gets the courage to exit the bathroom, he sees Jinho in the near distance and immediately makes a u-turn when they lock eyes. Taeyong is in the larger Casino in moments and weaves around the crowd in hopes to lose him, but it’s not good enough because when he looks behind him he can see Jinho getting closer. 

There’s a large hand on his shoulder and Taeyong almost jumped out of his skin, but it happens to be Johnny, the friendly giant from earlier. 

Taeyong blinks and little before locking eyes with Johnny.

“Marry me,” Taeyong demands, “Don’t ask questions, just do it.”

Johnny quirks an eyebrow, but allows Taeyong to drag him to a large venue type place where he sees a man standing at the podium. 

The Casino they went to had a chapel connected to it, usually where weddings took place and then they’d spend the night at the bar and casino to have fun. But that wasn’t Taeyong’s intention, if he was married to Johnny then Jinho would back off. Sure he’d call him a few names, but nothing that Taeyong couldn’t handle. 

“Priest, can you wed us?” Taeyong asked kindly, he saw the two in suit and quirked a brow. 

“Do you have a reservation?” He asked kindly.

“Please sir, nothing big, just enough for us to say ‘’I do,” Taeyong offered a kind smile, and the priest sighed. Then pointed an arm out to the end of the walkway and dragged Johnny with him. 

“This is insane,” Johnny whispered into Taeyong’s ear, “At least take me to dinner first.”

“No, no need for that at the moment,” Taeyong replies, and Johnny pouts, “Ok, after we get married, I'll take you for pizza.”

“Sounds romantic.” Johnny smiles. Taeyong is very thankful that Johnny isn’t weirded out by them getting married, or this night would go strange. If all else failed, he’d most likely be stuck in the engagement with Jinho once more and have to survive it. 

“Thanks for not questioning this,” Taeyobg speaks up, “I mean it’s not every day you get a proposal from a guy you just met.”

The priest cleared his throat and the two looked back to him, “Shall we begin?”

“Yes, sir,” Taeyong responds, “I’m Taeyong and that’s Johnny.”

“You are aware that this is illegal, correct?” The man asked. 

“Neither of us are drunk, so therefore we are both giving full consent to this marriage,” Taeyong says, “Just wed us, father.”

The priest went through the verses, and when it got to the ‘I do’ portion, Taeyong took a deep breath. 

“I do,” Johnny replied, shortly after, Taeyong nods.

“I do.”

“Well, I hear by announce you husband and husband,” The priest says, “I wish you both a happy marriage and a happy life.”

After a bunch of paperwork and reciting a lot of sections, the priest granted them their marriage and allowed them to leave. 

They exit the chapel, and immediately are met with the fuming face of Jinho.

“You are such a  _ slut _ !” Jinho barked, and Taeyong flinched back at the harsh and cruel voice. He easily gained his composure back and interlocked his and Johnny’s fingers. 

“We’re married,” Taeyong sighed, “It was an immediate connection, you know? I feel like I’ve known him my entire life.”

“You’re coming home with me, Taeyong,” Jinho says, his eyes intense, assertive, watching, “If you come home now, I won’t do anything to you. I’m sorry.”

Taeyong stares at Jinho for a moment, then laughed, “If you were sorry— you’d… you’d never let anything happen to me. But you did, and I’m never going to forgive you for that.”

Jinho reached out to him, but Johnny stepped in front of Taeyong’s frame, “I think it’s time you leave.”

“What’re you gonna do about it, bitch?” 

“Get you kicked out,” Johnny smiles, “I don’t think you did your research, but I’m the CEO of this entire corporation. I try to keep the well-being of this entire place welcoming, so if you don’t leave I’ll sue you for trespassing and get you arrested. So, either get out or I’ll call my men to  _ get  _ you out.”

Jinho stares coldly into the other man's eyes, before storming off and disappearing in the crowd. Johnny turns to Taeyong and quirks an eyebrow. 

“Are you okay?” Johnny asks softly, “He is quite an asshole. I see why you married me.”

Taeyong laughs a little and places his hands in his pockets, “Can I take you to dinner or something?”

“I mean, only logical after marriage. Let’s get out of here?” Johnny laughs a little and nudges Taeyong. 

-  
  


They end up in a Denny’s outside of town. There’s not many people here, most likely all traveling or away for the holidays. There’s a group of teens in the corner and an elderly couple reading the newspaper at the bar. 

A small woman with soft brown hair comes out and offers a smile, looking between the two. 

“Coming from a Gala or something?” she asks, trying to make conversation. Johnny shrugs. 

“Or something,” Johnny laughs, and the woman nods. She takes them to a table and hands them their menus.

“Order whenever you’re ready,” Then she disappears into the kitchen. 

Soft Christmas music played over the speakers and set a soft setting in the little restaurant. 

“I’m sorry about your boyfriend,” Johnny says sincerely, “He does seem like an asshole.”

“He is one,” Taeyong sighed, “The CEO of the casino? Seriously?”

“Oh no, I’m just an engineer,” Johnny laughed a little bit and scratched his neck, “I wanted to get him off your ass. Plus I do know people, I can get his ass kicked if ever necessary.”

Taeyong shook his head, “I’m against all of that.”

“Do you have anywhere to stay?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t have friends,” Taeyong sighed, “My parents don’t have contact with me.”

“Did he make you cut them off?” Johnny furrowed his brows, frowning with it and dropping his hand.

“Yeah,” Taeyong replied, “Anyways, how old are you?”

“I’m 25,” He replied, “You?”

“24,” Taeyong smiled, “I’m happy to see we’re the same age.”

“If you need somewhere to stay,” Johnny starts, “I have a spare room in my apartment. My friend Ten just moved in with his boyfriend.” 

“Johnny, you don’t have to. I’ll feel terrible.” Taeyong says quickly, “I’ll figure it out, I always do.”

“No, really,” Johnny cuts in, “We’re married. I wanna know you better.”

“Oh,” Taeyong says, “Oh, Johnny, really?”

“Yeah! Just by tonight you’ve strung me as someone interesting, I wanna get to know you better,” Johnny grins so wide, it’s adorable, “Plus were married, we should live together!”

Taeyong sighs, “Okay, the moment I move in I’m going job hunting, so I can help out on the pay. I have money right now, but I don’t know how long it’ll last. I’m really thankful for this.”

Johnny sighed, “I’m happy to help you, you need someone to give you guidance as well. You just got out of a terrible relationship, it’ll be rough for a while. But don’t worry about it, I almost was a psychologist, but it was really expensive.”

“I was  _ going _ to go to school for Music, but Jinho made me leave two years into my degree, and then I lost all my friends,” Taeyong responded weakly, “He said I was better off without them.”

“If you text them and explain everything, I’m sure a few would understand,” Johnny nods, “They must be missing you and confused.”

Taeyong nods, and the woman finally returns and takes their order. It’s nice, Taeyong thinks, being treated as human after so many years. He’s not some object anymore, and he thinks of how Johnny agreed without hesitation. 

It’s lovely. 

They continue conversation, getting to know each other and eating their hearts out. Johnny is really funny, nice, and already thinking of the adventures they’ll have together. 

After paying and leaving a generous tip, Johnny looks out the window and his smile widens unbelievably large. 

“It’s snowing!” Johnny cheered, he dashed outside, not even waiting for the younger boy. When Taeyong finally catches up, he sees Johnny run into the middle of the parking lot and throw his arms out. 

It’s beautiful, Taeyong thinks, seeing someone you met no more than a few hours ago so happy. Someone that you’ve grown so close to in so little time. 

Then Johnny screams, his laughter bubbling after it. Taeyong runs up to him. 

“Screaming?” Taeyong questions, and Johnny looks down. 

“It lets all that anger inside of you, it makes you feel more human,” Johnny replies, “Scream, Taeyong. Let yourself become human.”

And Taeyong does, so loud his chest shakes with it. Johnny high fives him and interlocks their fingers. 

“Don’t you feel better?”

Taeyong nods, “I do.”

“Hey, Taeyong,” Johnny breathes out, “Kiss me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me, Taeyong,” Johnny’s breath clouds the air and he turns to face the small boy.

“Okay,” Taeyong replies softly, and that gives Johnny all the strength, as he leans down and cups his face in his hands and kiss him. It’s passionate and warm, like the kiss was something both of them have desired for so long. 

Taeyong never expected to be kissing the man he calls his husband, or Johnny, in the middle of a Denny’s parking lot, dimly lit by the lamps in a whirl of wet snow. 

When they pull away, he doesn’t register when Johnny places his jacket around his shaking frame. Johnny is smiling, and Taeyong is too. 

“Are you ready to have an adventure?”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u enjoyed 🥺🥺 pls leave feedback! love u all <3


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